Writing Center—Northern State University
March 2010
APA Documentation System
The APA system of documentation consists of two components:
1. Parenthetical Citations: At the end of each passage in the text that requires documentation,
insert the last name of the author followed by a comma and the year of publication, all in
parentheses. Page numbers are included only for material that has been quoted.

The citation follows the last word of the passage (or the closing quotation marks) and
comes before the final punctuation:
. . . regarding the problem (Jones, 1981).
. . . no easy solution to the problem” (Jones, 1981, p. 222).

If the name of the author is introduced in the text of the paper, it is deleted from the
citation to avoid unnecessary repetition. In addition, the year (and page number for a
quote) is included immediately after the name of the author:
Jones (1981) has a similar view of the problem. He believes that . . . .

If the author of the source is unknown, the citation consists of the title (abbreviated if
necessary) and the year of publication (include page numbers for quotes only). The
title of a book is italicized; the title of an article appears in quotation marks:
. . . as previously thought (Surprising Solution, 1988).
. . . as stated earlier” (“Surprising Solution,” 1988, p. 8).
2. Reference Page: At the end of the paper, a complete bibliographical entry is provided for each
source. These entries are arranged alphabetically on a separate page under the heading References.
This page should be double-spaced throughout and use reverse indentation (see examples below
taken from Publication Manual of the APA and The Writer’s Harbrace Handbook).
Examples of Reference Entries:
Book by one author:
Vogt, P. (1997). Tolerance & education: Learning to live with diversity and difference.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Book by two authors (both names are reversed):
Guild, P. B., & Garger, S. (1998). Marching to different drummers. Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Essay originally published in an anthology:
Martin, W. (1979). Anne Bradstreet’s poetry: a study of subversive piety. In S. Gilbert & S.
Gubar (Eds.), Shakespeare’s sisters: Feminist essays on women poets (pp. 19-31).
Bloomington, IN: University Press.
Article in a magazine:
Cotter, J. F. (1973, February). Women poets: Malign neglect? America, 262(5), 140-142.
Article in a professional journal:
Laughlin, R. M. (1970). Anne Bradstreet: Poet in search of form. American Literature, 42(3),
1-17.
Newspaper article (discontinuous pages):
Schwartz, J. (1993, September 30). Obesity affects economic, social status. The Washington
Post, pp. A1, A4.
Online sites
Web site document with an author and a date of publication:
Harvey, S. (1994, September). Dynamic play therapy: An integrated expressive arts approach to
family treatment of infants and toddlers. Retrieved from http://www.zerotothree.org/aboutsus/
If the document is from a large Web site, such as one sponsored by a university or government body,
give the name of the host organization before the URL:
Darling, C. (2002). Guide to grammar and writing. Retrieved from Capital Community College Web
site: http://cctc2.commnet.edu/grammar/modifiers.htm
Web site document with no identified author and no date of publication
(Use the name of the organization hosting the Web site as the author):
American School Counselor Association. (n.d.). Ethical standards for school counselors.
Retrieved from http://www.schoolcounselor.org/content.asp?contentid=173
Online magazine article:
Clay, R. (2008 June). Science vs. ideology: Psychologists fight back about the misuse of
research. Monitor on Psychology, 39(6). Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/
Online journal article from a database such as LexisNexis or ProQuest:
VandenBos, G., Knapp, S., & Doe, J. (2001). Role of reference elements in the selection of
resources by psychology undergraduates. Journal of Bibliographic Research, 5(4), 117123. Retrieved from ProQuest database.
(address optional)